Note​book

Publics and Publication

A space of publication for the creative engagement of civic and cultural life in the 9th Ward of MPLS.
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Beyond Repair: "Dismissing the rhetoric of 'people & places that need fixing' since 2015

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“I’m incredibly excited to make this news public. Last week I was awarded a Mid-Career Project Grant funded by the McKnight Foundation and administered through Forecast Public Art. I am overwhelmed and overjoyed by this support and its implications for the work and energy that is being generated out of the relationships forming in Beyond Repair. With this support (along with last weeks wonderful news of a Visual Arts Fund grant through the Warhol Foundation and Midway Contemporary Art Library) we’ll be able to do so much; bring in new voices with vital stories to tell, create platforms to amplify voices already present in the 9th Ward, and support the production of creative engagement throughout the neighborhood for some time to come.

The grant will support Publics & Publication. A multi-faceted project that will gather histories known and not-known-well-enough from noted artists, activists, and thinkers who have activated ideas around publication (the act of public making) to energetic means. These histories will energize a series of public projects and platforms (such as printed publications, radio broadcasts, and interactive billboards) addressing policing and “security” within Minneapolis’ 9th Ward, as well as models for collective self-defense and wellness.

What this will all look like will come out of the interactions that we share together within the shop. But, for starters, two platforms for continued questioning, and amplification of those questions, will be developed: a radio station (W R/L F/R, which stands for With Radical Love and Fierce Resistance, the thematic for all programming) and an on-going series of free pamphlets engaging urgent topics, advice, and tools around our present moment of abject fuckery that is Trump-World.

It’s incredibly important for me to thank all the people who have offered their time and love to the shop this first year. Random droppers-by who have become fast friends and compatriots like Duaba (Dane) Verrtah; the ever-expanding, soon to reform in some fashion, folks of the Undercommons Reading Group; Fiona Avocado, Derek Winston Maxwell,Lacey Prpić Hedtke, Rachel Hiltsley and all those who decided that they wanted to spend time around the shop and bring others into the fold (along with, simply, giving me a moment to breath and / or hang out with my family). Oh man… there are so many people!! You know who you are. And I will thank you personally.

There’s more to add, and so much more to come. I’ll be sure to clue you in when things are afoot. But for now, thank you thank you thank you. I am so grateful and excited for what will and may come out of this level of support for a project that, I am well aware, is complex and not in the least spectacular. And I mean that in a good way.

In closing, I wanted to point out one thing. I’m really not a fan of competition. And in this circumstance that is exactly what I got myself into. There were five finalists for this award. One of them being Roger Cummings, an artist and friend who I have a lot of respect for. I was certain Roger would get this. But that’s not how it turned out. Along with a whiskey, I want to extend my thanks and gratitude to Roger (and DeAnna!) for all the amazing work they do in Minneapolis, and the thousands of young minds and souls they have energized over the years. Here’s a future devoid of competition, bursting with shared support and friendship.” – Sam